| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: lit two candles, placed two chairs on one side of the hearth, and a
stool on the other. Then he told his wife to bring him his wedding-
clothes, and ordered her to put on hers. He dressed himself. When
dressed, he fetched his brother, and told him to watch before the
door, and warn him of any noise on either of the beaches,--that of
Croisic, or that of Guerande. Then he loaded a gun, and placed it at a
corner of the fireplace. Jacques came home late; he had drunk and
gambled till ten o'clock, and had to get back by way of the Carnouf
point. His uncle heard his hail, and he went over and fetched him, but
said nothing. When Jacques entered the house, his father said to
him,--
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: far as Beauvais.
Along this route, which is that toward England, there lies a road
which turns off at a place well-named, in view of its topography, The
Cave, and leads through a most delightful valley in the basin of the
Oise to the little town of Isle-Adam, doubly celebrated as the cradle
of the family, now extinct, of Isle-Adam, and also as the former
residence of the Bourbon-Contis. Isle-Adam is a little town flanked by
two large villages, Nogent and Parmain, both remarkable for splendid
quarries, which have furnished material for many of the finest
buildings in modern Paris and in foreign lands,--for the base and
capital of the columns of the Brussels theatre are of Nogent stone.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather: They went home sadly with the lilacs, back
to the Rue Saint-Jacques, walking very slowly,
arm in arm. When they reached the house
where Hilda lodged, Bartley went across the
court with her, and up the dark old stairs to
the third landing; and there he had kissed her
for the first time. He had shut his eyes to
give him the courage, he remembered, and
she had trembled so--
Bartley started when Hilda rang the little
bell beside her. "Dear me, why did you do
Alexander's Bridge |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The War in the Air by H. G. Wells: ladder from the swaying little gallery into the airship again,
and so, as if it were a refuge, to bed.
5
Bert slept for a time, and then his sleep was broken by dreams.
Mostly he was fleeing from formless terrors down an interminable
passage in an airship--a passage paved at first with ravenous
trap-doors, and then with openwork canvas of the most careless
description.
"Gaw!" said Bert, turning over after his seventh fall through
infinite space that night.
He sat up in the darkness and nursed his knees. The progress of
|
